


The Amity Park Haunting: Raising Your Spirits

by writting_mistakes



Series: The Amity Park Haunting [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Multi, Strong Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23812534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writting_mistakes/pseuds/writting_mistakes
Summary: The town of Amity Park is under attack by ghosts, but everyone knows that by now. For dozens of years, Amity Park citizens cowered away in their homes, hoping that they wouldn’t get haunted, until a hero rose up to fight against the ghosts, a hero by the name of Jason Baxter. As things begin to die down and the town returns to normal, Jason is suddenly murdered by a mystery ghost. Now, the torch has been passed on to his irresponsible, and newly orphaned son, Dash. To complete his ghost fighting training, Dash is taken in by the Fenton family, none other than his father’s former partners, as they teach him how to uphold his father’s legacy, but they unwittingly are harboring a ghost in their midst....It’s day two of Dash living in the Fenton house and he is already getting more attention than Danny believes he deserves. But as his parents are distracted with their training, Danny is free to test out the limits of his powers against a new adversary: the famed ghost hunter, Skulker, who pledges to hunt down and kill Danny.
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Sam Manson, Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley/Sam Manson
Series: The Amity Park Haunting [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685203
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22





	1. What a Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I meant to upload this chapter last week, but I got sick and couldn’t edit it. But I’m feeling better now, so back to our regularly scheduled programming!

The breakfast table is surprisingly empty as I sit and eat my breakfast, likely because Mom and Dash went to report their progress to the mayor this morning at 7 am, meaning that he’ll likely get to skip out on his morning classes. “The perks of being the town hero I guess...” I stir my cereal around in the bowl, watching it get soggy as my thoughts wander to yesterday’s events. I found out after I woke up that my dad suffered a concussion from the blow and my mother sprained her wrist, and though both of them were lucky to have gotten out with such mild injuries, they’ve still been put out of commission by the mayor for two weeks. Mom is at city hall now to contest that order, but I doubt it’ll be overturned. In any case, it gives the two of them a lot more time to train Dash, especially if they want him to be a ruthless ghost hunter like Jason. But, for some reason, my interaction with Dash yesterday is bugging me.

_Why didn’t he shoot me? ___

__I finally snap out of my thoughts, looking down at the mostly disintegrated cereal in my bowl, and toss it in the sink before heading to get ready, when I run into Jazz as she races down the stairs with a binder full of loose papers. “Watch out, Danny! I have to get to school.”_ _

__“What for?” I ask._ _

__“My science club had to change rooms because the attack yesterday damaged property and now our meeting time moved from morning to afternoon!” She explains while racing around the room and collecting her things, before booking it out the door without so much as a goodbye._ _

__“See you later?” I roll my eyes, turning and heading up the stairs to get ready for school. I leave the house about thirty minutes later and when I walk out the door, I see Sam and Tucker waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. “H-Hey.”_ _

__“Hey,” Tucker replies, but Sam remains turned away with her arms crossed, not wanting to make eye contact with me. I don’t say another word as I walk down the stairs to meet them. Keeping pace with their walking speed, we head towards the school, me not daring to say a word with out prompting._ _

__“We heard that you got sick yesterday,” Tucker leads into a long string of questioning, like he always does. “Is it from the day before? You know, when...” he pauses, trying to think of how to put his words._ _

__“It...” I don’t want to lie, so I don’t say anything more, just keeping my eyes glued to the sidewalk beneath me as I continue walking. On the opposite side of Tucker, who acts as a buffer between us, Sam scoffs, not hiding her annoyance._ _

__“Of course he has nothing to say.”_ _

__“Sam...” Tucker scolds, though I doubt it’ll do anything. “He said he would tell us when he’s ready.”_ _

“And when is that gonna be?” Sam stops in her tracks and we all follow her lead. “Danny, w-we saw... _heard _your screams. You were...” she can’t finish, which genuinely surprises me. Even more surprising are the tears that streak down her face as she cups her mouth, horrified and traumatized by what she saw. Tucker grabs Sam by the arm and pulls her into a hug, trying to comfort her in all of the ways that I’d failed.__

“I’m sorry,” I can’t say anything to relieve their stress, all because of my fear. _I’m a fucking coward._ I clench my fists in frustration, secretly wanting them to ream me out.

“Danny, we just want to know what’s going on,” Tucker concludes. “We thought that you died in there and... we blamed ourselves.”

_Hit that nail right on the head._

“I am just...” I try to tell them, force the words from my mouth, but all I can do is speak in sentence fragments. “I’m so damn confused right now. And I know that you guys wouldn’t understand cause I don’t even fucking understand. But...”

“What the hell could possibly be so bad that you can’t tell us?” Tucker shouts, still clutching Sam as she rests on his chest like lump of clay.

“If you’d just let me figure that out for myself then I would tell you!” I yell back, releasing my pent up anger from everything that has been happening onto them. “I need you guys to trust and support me right now! I need you guys to be my friends!”

“Well what about what we need from you?” Sam regains her strength, the cold anger of her voice just as terrifying as the other two times I’d heard it.

“I think I get to be selfish now,” I tell her and march off, not feeling particularly angry at them, more so myself for being like this to my best friends. Once I get to school, I put my things away in my locker and head straight to class, not waiting for them to join me. As soon as I get to English class, though, I kick myself for not having my friends for support when Mr. Lancer comes up to me.

“Mr. Fenton,” his voice echoes throughout the room in a taunting manor, as if begging me to act out. I turn around to face my teacher, noticing how intimidating he is as he stands over me, and struggle to come up with an excuse for whatever it is he’s yelling at me for. “You promised me last week that you would turn in your ghost safety protocol form.”

“Uh...” I try to think of something to say, but Lancer cuts me off.

“Yesterday we had a ghost attack, as I’m sure you’ve heard,” he lectures. “If you would have been at school, you would have detention right now.”

“But I don’t?” I ask in surprise.

“I’m still debating it,” Lancer replies, walking past me towards his desk in preparation to start class. “Have it turned in by tomorrow morning. And I expect you to be on your best behavior today.” He glares at me, prompting me to shuffle into my seat, where I stay seated quietly for the remainder of the class, avoiding eye contact with Sam and Tucker the entire time. After the bell rings and Lancer finishes assigning us the literature homework, I book it as fast as I can out of the classroom, but am stopped at the door by a terrifying force of strength that knocks be back before I am able to make my escape.

“Fenton.” I don’t even have to look up to know who is blocking my path. Just as I am about to respond, Mr. Lancer interjects.

“Is there a problem here?” I don’t even turn around to face my teacher, swallowing my pride and peering up into the face of my enemy, who glares back at me.

“S-sorry, Dash,” I stutter before nudging past the jock and rushing as fast as I can down the halls, feeling his eyes burning through the back of my skull as I scurry towards my next class.

After a few more miserable classes and a lunch period spent in an empty classroom, I am finally allowed to go home, deciding to walk back with Jazz for the first time in a while. “How was school?” She asks, and I know full well that she is wondering if Dash and I had another fight.

“Fine,” I say, but immediately regret it, as if my body is begging me to vent to her about my problems. “I just got reamed out by both my best friends and my teacher.”

“Wh-why?” She seems completely stunned by my admission.

“Well, Lancer almost gave me detention for not turning in my ghost attack form thing,” I begin, not stopping the words as they flow out of my mouth. “I know I should’ve had mom and dad sign it, but I don’t want to bother them with this with everything that’s been going on.” I pause, wondering when Jazz is going to scold me for ‘neglecting my responsibilities’ or something like that, but when I look over at her, she has her eyes trained forward, waiting for me to continue. “Um... and Sam and Tucker... they’re angry with me. And honestly I don’t blame them. After everything that they’ve been through I would be pissed at me too, but...” I sigh, unable to finish what I was thinking. “Are you really not gonna say anything?”

“Do you want to know what I really think?” She asks and I nod in response. “It was stupid of you to neglect your responsibilities just because you wanted to protect Mom and Dad’s feelings. I mean, it’s not like they’ve stopped fighting ghosts just because Jason died.” She makes a pretty good point. “And I don’t know what happened between you, Tucker, and Sam, but I do know what they said when they called me.”

“What do you mean when they called you?”

“They called me the night that you went missing for a while,” she starts. “When you went on your ‘walk’ around the neighborhood. They didn’t tell me any details, but they said that you might have gotten hurt and wanted to know if you were okay. When I told them that you were missing they seemed devastated, like they’d just lost you.” I stop walking, looking down at the ground with clenched fists.

“I know that,” I tell her through gritted teeth, my voice barely louder than a whisper. “I know how much I’m hurting them, but... they don’t know what I’m going through. They don’t understand what it’s like to be a—“ _Oh my god, I almost told her._

“A what?” She doesn’t just let it go, which is pretty in line with her character but not exactly what I need right now.

“Nothing,” I brush her off. “My point is, I need time to figure things out. And...” _Deep down, what I’m most worried about is that they’ll hate me when I tell them._ “I just want this miserable day to be over.” We continue walking, the lull in the conversation making me feel a bit awkward.

“Um...” she seems to be choosing her words carefully. “Did something else happen today? Like with Dash?”

“Surprisingly no,” I laugh despite myself. “We only ever saw each other once, and that was hardly even an encounter compared to last time.”

“I’m still so pissed at that douchebag,” she says, clenching her jaw in anger. “He didn’t even wait to see if you were okay yesterday on the way to school; just darted off like a scared gazelle.” A flash of last night returns to me, Dash’s ‘feel better’ ringing through my ears. “God! What is his problem?”

“I was just wondering the same thing.” Our conversation sputters to a halt once we get home, where we can hear very loud and potentially dangerous banging noises coming from the backyard. We enter through the rear gate, looking to see what could possibly be making so much noise, and see our parents, as well as Dash, assembling what looks to be a target arena, with fake ghost cutouts to boot.

“Hey kids!” Mom yells, dropping a large steel barrel into Dad’s arms, who almost falls over due to the weight. She runs up to us and scoops us into a warm hug.

“Mom, be careful with your wrist,” Jazz scolds, trying to talk her way out of being crushed.

“Oh it’s fine, dear,” she says. “That coward mayor couldn’t be convinced though. So we’ve just been here.” Once mom releases us, we turn to watch Dad as he teaches Dash how to properly hold his gun.

“He’s here?” I ask, not taking my eyes off of them.

“Oh, yeah,” Mom says excitedly. “Dash gets to come home early from school everyday so that he can train. It’s part of the plan that the mayor put together for him. It’s so wonderful getting to train a newbie again. I remember when you two were kids just learning how to hold your ecto-blasters.” She sighs, reminiscing on the past.

“Okay, enough of that,” I say, turning my eyes away as Dash misses his shot, making him look around wildly at the shock of the recoil. “I’m gonna go do my homework. Oh, and I need you to sign something for me, Mom.” I don’t wait for a response before turning to head inside, pulling the form out of my backpack and setting it on the counter for her to sign, then steering out of the kitchen and trudging up the stairs towards my room, which has an impressive view of their backyard training session. I flop on my bed in exhaustion, feeling like I’ve aged a few years in just the span of three days and wondering if my heart can take anymore stress.


	2. A New Threat

“Danny!” Mom yells from downstairs, breaking my attention away from my homework. I stand up from my desk and rush down to meet her in the kitchen, where Dash sits, recuperating from their intense drilling. He doesn’t even glance at me as I come into the room, which I am partially grateful for and partially annoyed about. “What’s this form here?” She asks, holding up the paper to me.

“Oh.” I scratch the back of my neck, glancing at Jazz who sits at the bar doing her homework, avoiding my gaze as well. “It’s the ghost attack protocol that our school has put in place. I just need you to sign it cause I have to turn it in tomorrow.”

“Hmm...” she mutters something inaudible under her breath as she reads, scanning every word to the letter. “What is this, Danny? ‘Leave all personal items and filter out of the classrooms in an orderly fashion, heading towards the streets and police barricades.’ That’s completely improper! What if the students were to run into the ghost?”

“Mom, I didn’t make up the rules—“

“If students stay inside the classrooms, doesn’t that then put them at more risk?” Dash asks, engaging in our conversation as if he has the right to butt in. “They could potentially be injured from the ghost, ghost hunters like yourselves, or even debris from the fight. Plus, being within the vicinity of the ghost puts you at more risk of being taken hostage or kidnapped, and ghosts can phase through anything so they could easily maneuver about the building to find targets and escape routes. Staying inside the building is likely only going to get people hurt, so it makes sense that they would want to get us as far away from the fighting as possible.” I stand there gaping at his words, trying to pick my mouth up off the floor as I look around to see my family’s reaction. Jazz sits stunned in her seat, glancing between Dash and my mom, who seems to be deep in thought, her expression unreadable, and Dash... he seems to have realized the gravity of his mistake, looking at me to help him rectify things.

_Why do you always look at me for help? Goddamn my bleeding heart._

I turn towards mom, ready to defend Dash, for whatever reason, but before I can say anything, her face morphs into an obscure smile and she looks over at him with wild eyes. “How clever you are!” She laughs, her bloodshot eyes bulging from her head in interest, a look that dissuades me from speaking. “Oh! You are well on your way to becoming the finest hero this town has ever known! You’re acting just like your father would!” She beams at him stepping forward to pull him into a hug, leaving Jazz and I utterly floored. Dash gives her a light squeeze back, seeming a bit relieved, but something else is there. Something... sad, I just can’t figure out why. She pushes him away suddenly and returns to the counter, snatching the paper up and quickly signing on the line at the bottom, then hands it to me with a sweet smile, the craziness that she was displaying earlier vanished completely.

“There you go, honey,” she beams, sliding the paper into my hands when I don’t immediately take it. “You should thank Dash, otherwise I wouldn’t have signed this. Though I do still think I should be going over ghost safety procedures with Principal Ishiyama.” She turns away from the three of us and pulls out her phone, all the while muttering under her breath, rehearsing what she’s going to say to the principal. I turn back towards Dash, who sways where he stands, staring down at his shoes as he kicks them out anxiously.

“Uh,” I begin, not sure what I’m going to say. He looks up at me expectantly, seemingly prepared for me to lash out at him, but I don’t plan to. “Thanks.” I leave the room without waiting to see his response, my pride getting the better of me, but stop at the base of the stairs to look back, watching Mom and Dad as they set up more machinery outdoors, and feeling a pang of jealousy as Dash joins them.

Just as I am about to go up the stairs again, I feel the shiver run down my spine, fully expecting to have an attack like last time, and try to make it to the bathroom before anyone can see me, but only a small amount of smoke leaves my body this time, coming out in a small plume and immediately dissipating. It somewhat reminds me of when that Tentacle Ghost flew by me in the parking lot, almost as if my body picks up on the presence of other ghosts and alerts me. Wanting to test my theory, I lock the bathroom door in a rush, leaving me alone to focus all of my attention on turning into my ghost form, but nothing happens.

_Come on. Why isn’t it working?_ I open my eyes, looking into the bathroom mirror at my, surprisingly, disappointed face, but I ignore my internal concerns, shaking my head as I refocus. _Maybe I can cue it up somehow._ I close my eyes again, concentrating as hard as I can on the image of me becoming my ghost self.

“Turn on ghost form!” I say. It doesn’t work. “Go, go ghost form!” Another failed attempt. “Come on ghosty! Uh, I’m turning ghost! I am going to become a ghost. Let me die.” I grasp my hands on the bathroom sink and let out a long, irritated groan. In a last ditch effort, I lift my head and think of one more phrase that might trigger the transformation. “I’m going ghost!” I suddenly feel my body start to tingle, and again my torso is encompassed by the bright blue light, this time, though, I watch myself transform through the mirror. My body starts to shift into the other form, starting at my waist and progressively working down towards my toes and up towards my head at once, all the while, the tingling sensation continues, spreading throughout my body as I change, once the transformation is complete, I stand in the white boots of the jumpsuit that my parents designed specifically for me, tugging at the fabric on my arms in assurance. “Of course I would have such a stupid ass catch phrase.” I sigh, settling to worry about that later.

I jump into the air a few times, trying to force my tail to form, then test out my phasing power as I float in midair, trying to gauge my speed and how capable I am with my abilities. _This is actually pretty cool._ Once I’ve had my fun with my powers, I focus as hard as I can and phase through the wall with no complications, emerging onto a backroad and regretting my decision immediately when a couple spots me and runs off screaming. _Damn. At least it was just those guys._ I focus as hard as I can and reform my legs, dropping down onto the concrete gracefully and feeling very proud of myself at the simple achievement. I don’t get much time to gloat though, because in the next instant, I hear a loud whirring sound followed by a gust of wind and electricity that whirs by my head in a bright green ball, nicking my shoulder and ripping through my jumpsuit as it passes by me, leaving me with a small gash. I whip around, looking for the source of the blast, when my attention is caught by a strange figure standing on the building across the street.

“Hello, Ghost Child.” He smiles dangerously at me with his metallic arm raised and a blaster protruding from the forearm, clearly indicating that he is the one who took the shot. “Come out and greet your audience, they’re all waiting.” I nervously step out of the alleyway and into a small crowd of people who have formed at the base of the building. They stand in awe below Skulker’s perch, parting cautiously as I make my way towards the red bricked building.

_What are you idiots doing? Run away!_

“I am Skulker,” he declares raising his arms theatrically as the crowd stares on in awe. “The greatest ghost hunter the world has ever known.” He turns to level his gun at me, making the crowd around me stiffen, but they still don’t leave. “And I plan to mount your head on my wall.” Everyone around us bursts into raucous applause, but I can’t help but be distracted.

_Skulker. Why does that name sound familiar?_

My parents burst through the door to answer my question, holding their blasters and aiming them towards me. “Skulker! What are you doing? Shoot the ghost!” My mom cries out to him, but he just rolls his eyes.

“But what would be the fun in that?” Skulker’s arm transforms into a claw looking thing and a giant net shoots out from it, collecting me within itself and forcing me off the ground to confront him. “I want a challenge. Can you offer that to me?” I can’t help but stare at the hulking brute in front of me. With an entire body made of metal, it forces me to wonder how he managed to survive getting his flesh replaced with hardware, and what kind of beast could’ve dealt so much damage.

“Stop playing games with it and kill it!” Dad yells from the ground, but Skulker completely ignores him, focusing only on me, with his glazed over eyes being the only indicator of his humanity.

“It seems that I will have to slay you before they can,” he smiles, his teeth covered in aluminum caps.

_That’s right, Skulker is the guy who deemed himself my parents’ rival. I didn’t recognize him without any skin, though. Why is he targeting me? I’m hardly a threat to him, so what kind of challenge could I pose?_

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” my self-defeatist retort takes him aback. “Aren’t you guys banned from fighting ghosts on order of the mayor?” I turn to look at them, a shit-earring grin plastered on my face, and the crowd follows suit. Both of them bristle at the attention, knowing that word has likely already made it to the mayor, and Mom drops her weapon.

“We will get you, ghost fiend!” she shouts before grabbing Dad by the collar and pulling him inside. I breathe a sigh of relief at their departure, but don’t have the time to relax, due to my metallic adversary holding me hostage.

“Now, I will give you a head start,” Skulker explains, then the net rips apart from the bottom, allowing me to escape and fly as quickly away from the area as possible. I manage to hide behind a dumpster as I try to collect my thoughts and calm my beating heart, but as the adrenaline dies down, I am quickly reminded of my injured shoulder. When I look it over, all I can see is bright green blood oozing out from the cut, a deep gash that might require stitches from the looks of it. The blood runs down my arm, staining the cloth bright green, despite my attempts to wipe it off.

“It’s official, folks, I am, in fact, dead.” I clamp my hand on my shoulder to slow the bleeding and continue holding onto it as I try to put as much distance between me and Skulker as I can.


	3. Lowest Point

After being chased around by Skulker for most of the afternoon, I wind up resting between two inconspicuous buildings on the bad side of town, though the events that lead me to wind up here are a bit hazy. It’s a strange feeling, being tired when you’re dead; it’s not as though I’m out of breath or that I’m sore, my body just feels like it is being slowly drained of energy the more that I move. To make matters worse, my wound only seems to be draining my powers faster, though it seems to be healing relatively well for how deep it was. In a desperate attempt to further protect my self by escaping from this endless cycle of fleeing Skulker and his arsenal, I try to come up with a plan. _Skulker doesn’t know that I can transform back into a human, so now is the perfect time. I just have to make sure that he isn’t around here anywhere._ As I scan my surroundings, careful not to be spotted by anyone, I hear a strange giggling sound come from behind me and startle in place, worried that Skulker, or my parents for that matter, might have found me.

“Ffff...” the voice coos and I spin around, terrified, eyes landing on a slumped over figure in the corner of one of the buildings, the bright blonde hair an unmistakable feature.

“Dash?” My eyes widen in concern as he whips his head up to look at me, as if he hadn’t realized that I am here. For a moment, he just stares at me, a blank expression on his face, but something washes over him and his face transforms into over-exaggerated shock.

“Fenton!” He gasps, but I’m the one left shook to my core. Forcing myself to stay calm, I try to come up with an excuse as I float closer to him, but he cuts me off. “What are you wearing? Some kinda costume? You got green eyes man!”

_Hold on... does he not recognize me?_

“Uh, Dash are you alright?” I ask him as I take in the surrounding area, dropping out of my tail and onto the ground with my human legs. There are bottles of beer scattered around him, all of them empty, and his breath reeks of alcohol. “Did you drink all of these yourself?”

“Fenton,” he doesn’t respond but his demeanor is so casual and friendly compared to how he normally is that I can only assume that he is completely wasted. He reaches up to grab me, pulling me down to his level and staring me in the eyes. “Are you wearing contacts? Your eyes are glowing man.”

“What are you doing here, Dash?” I try to push him off of me but he holds me down with the strength of bodybuilder.

“I needed to come here to buy alcohol,” he admits. “Never been here before and got lost, so I just started drinking.”

“Dash, you shouldn’t be wandering around down here, especially if you don’t know where you’re going. Someone could try to mug you, or murder you, or kidnap you.”

“Ha!” He bellows right in my ear. “I would love to see them try that.”

“You’re the new symbol of hope for Amity Park, you can’t be running around recklessly like this,” I scold him, making his eyes change into a sad, darkened shell of their former selves.

“I know,” he admits, surprising me a little. “Ha. I thought maybe I could escape you Fentons for a bit. Your parents are so damn obsessed with ghost hunting!” He hangs his head, covering his face with his hands as he continues to ramble, and I can do nothing but watch the events unfold, equally confused and troubled by this side of Dash that I’ve never seen. “Why’d it have to be me? Why do I have to replace him? Damn. He’d be so disappointed in me right now, would probably knock me upside the head and tell me to suck it up. It’s my responsibility now.” He goes silent and for a moment, I can do nothing but stare at him with wide eyes, genuinely shocked that he feels comfortable enough to tell this to me, of all people. “Danny, you—”

A thunderous clanging sound cuts him off, and we both look back towards the main road, trying to deduce what’s going on, when I quickly realize that I’d been chatting away my opportunity to escape from that psychopath. I whip my head towards Dash, who looks at me with droopy eyes, as he is clearly on the verge of passing out. _I can’t transform back in front of him. He’ll definitely notice something’s off if I do._

“Ugh, I don’t feel good.” I ignore his muttering and rush over to peer out around the side of the building, looking towards where the sound is coming from, to see Skulker pounding the concrete in underneath his feet as he walks, likely trying to conserve fuel for his thrusters.

“Dash,” I spring back over to him, putting my hands on his shoulders and bringing his attention back to me. “Listen, something is coming for us and we need to get out of here, okay?”

“What?”

“I don’t have time to explain, but I need you to stand up,” I direct, pulling at his arms to try to get him to move, but he remains seated. “Dash—“

“I know you’re here, child,” Skulker’s voice sounds much closer to us, which incites a panic inside of me. “This has been quite the chase, I will admit, but you are nowhere near powerful enough to stop me. And I will keep hunting you until one of us is erased from this earth. Make this easier on yourself and stop running.” His words hit me hard, leaving me stunned in fear as I cling to the limp Dash’s sleeve, unable to think properly, unable to come up with a plan. I’ve almost resigned myself to my fate when I feel a hand on my forearm, and look down to see Dash pushing me off of him.

“Just go,” he whispers, head sagging towards the ground in defeat, as if he understands perfectly what I am feeling.

_Why? You hate me, Dash, so why aren’t you being the selfish prick that you always are? Why aren’t you trying to protect yourself?_ His words ignite something in me, and I feel myself regaining the will to fight again. I look down at him as he rests limply against the cold concrete floor and realize what I have to do. _Just focus on protecting him. Don’t worry about yourself right now._ I lean down and grab Dash around the waist, heaving him onto my shoulder and almost collapsing at his weight.

“What are you doing?” He whines but doesn’t move a muscle to oppose me. “I don’t want to be carried.”

“We have to get out of here Dash,” I hear the metal footfalls of my opponent closing in and I feel my resolve strengthen. _I can’t fly away while carrying him. He’s too heavy. But if I could just transform back..._ “Please just stay still, I’m gonna try something.” I try my hardest to float myself into the air, hovering mere inches off the ground so that I can make my attempt at phasing through the wall. _If I can just make it through here, I’ll have bought us some time._ I put all of my strength into phasing both of us at once, feeling my body shift in a different way than I had before, then force the power through Dash as I hold him up. “Dash, hang on.” He doesn’t respond, instead just grabbing onto the back of my jumpsuit, assuring me that he is listening.

Skulker’s footsteps begin to shake the ground, indicating that he’s only a few steps away from noticing us, so, abandoning my sense of caution, I plunge forward into the wall ahead of us, collapsing to my knees once I make it through with Dash still hanging onto my clothes, his grip far tighter from the traumatic turn of events. “Oh... god... I’m gonna be sick.” Dash releases my back to cover his mouth and I move quickly, trying to get him away from me before he pukes, setting him on the ground as gently as I can without breaking my back. “Ugh...” he groans in agony, still suppressing his vomit, while I rest on my hands and knees a few paces away from him.

“Are you okay?” I ask him after I’ve recovered enough, but he doesn’t respond, and when I look up at him, he’s slumped against the wall, unmoving. “Dash?” I cry out, weakly crawling over to check his condition, but my arms fail me and I collapse right in front of him. With all of the excitement, I hadn’t realized how exhausted I was, but now, my body is completely unable to sustain the ghost form any longer and I transform back into Danny Fenton. For a moment, I worry that I might faint, but I manage to remain conscious as I stumble over to check on Dash. He’s still breathing and he has a pulse when I check for one, but he’s completely passed out, likely because of a combination of the alcohol and the rush of adrenaline that he just experienced. Relieved, I sit down next to him on the wall, a flurry of questions running through my head.

_Why is he even out here? Doesn’t he know how dangerous it is? And is Skulker going to find us? I don’t hear his footsteps anymore, so he must’ve passed by. Did he see us? No. If he had, he’d be here by now. But how the heck am I gonna get this dumbass home?_

**...**

I feel Dash stir on my back, and his breathing becomes softer, alerting me that he is awake. “What are you doing?” He asks coldly.

_Looks like the beer wore off._

“You were passed out in an alley on the west side,” I explain. “So I’m carrying you home.”

“Put me down.” I bend over and set his legs down and he staggers away from me, but quickly reaches a hand out, grabbing onto my shoulder to steady himself when he almost falls. He doesn’t remove it when he regains his balance, instead leaning in slightly, as if he wants to use me as a crutch.

“I’ll help you.”

“...I don’t need you,” he looks away, frustration building on his face as he leans on me for support, but I don’t respond, just letting us continue on in comfortable silence, the sunset lighting our way home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who read through this story and both of the other chapters. This is my first fic that I’ve ever published so I was worried about the reception, but you’re support has really meant a lot to me. So thank you all for the hits and kudos and I hope that you will continue reading!


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